


Let's Free the Slaves

by WingletBlackbird



Series: Jedi History, Organisation, and Culture [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, Meta Essay, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, cross-posted from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-19 15:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17003934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingletBlackbird/pseuds/WingletBlackbird
Summary: The issue with the Jedi Order's handling of slavery on Tatooine, or in general, is not that they did not immediately rush to free everyone when they heard of it, but that they did not pursue the means to do so properly due to the interests of power, greed,, and the biased "greater good".





	Let's Free the Slaves

I’ve seen the Jedi criticised a lot for not immediately dashing off to free the slaves on Tatooine. I actually don’t take exception with them for that. It was utterly unrealistic, and unfeasible for them to be able to do that. There was no way they could have successfully freed everyone by just up and doing it as soon as Anakin suggested it, or as soon as they found out. The problem with the Jedi in regard to the slave problem in Hutt Space, specifically on Tatooine, is not that they didn’t dash off to free them ASAP. It’s that once they realised they didn’t have the means to do anything about it, they didn’t push for the Senate to give it to them. Allow me to explain myself more fully.

There is no sensible government on Tatooine. Tatooine is ruled so fully by the Hutt clan that in TCW movie, we actually see the Republic negotiate with them. This means that even if they freed every single slave on Tatooine, the Hutts would just buy more, so it wouldn’t solve any problem. This means that if they tried to get to the root of the problem, the Hutts, and arrest them, they would have nowhere to try them, no prison to put them in. Tatooine is nominally a part of the Republic, but the Republic has no court system there, no prison cells, no means to  _enforce the law._ Even if they just executed Jabba, someone else would take over. If they really want to free the slaves on Tatooine, the Jedi must do one of two things: a) go to war against the Hutts, or b) get the Senate to help them go to Tatooine, oust Jabba, and set up a provisional government system. They don’t have the resources for a, which leaves b as the only possible option. Hence the problem with the Jedi is not that they told Anakin they could do nothing for Tatooine without Senate support, because that is utterly logical and sensible. The problem is that they did not bother to try and put any pressure on the Senate to provide said support, because they were too entrenched in the system themselves. They didn’t want to risk losing Senate support, even if it meant ignoring the corruption on Tatooine. That is the issue. It is another example of the PT-era compromising moral principle, in the name of expediency and convenience, and the biased “greater good.” Where it is within their current power though, we do see them freeing slaves both in canon and in legends.

Incidentally, in the Jedi Quest series, there is a mission Anakin and Obi-Wan go on where they help set up a provisional government on a planet which was taken over by Hutts after a devastating civil war. Given that this planet had resources to offer the Senate, and had once been a well-known and respected planet, it was offered support that Tatooine never was. Curiously enough, when deciding which Jedi to accompany Yaddle on the mission, it was agreed Anakin would go as he had had a vision about freeing slaves on Tatooine which ended with a reference to Yaddle. Yoda said that the vision was symbolic that the Council were to send the Kenobi-Skywalker team to Mawan, the planet, with Yaddle; so off they went. However, when Anakin asks if the vision couldn’t also mean that they were meant to free the slaves on Tatooine, Obi-Wan, and Yoda rebuke him for taking a vision literally. He desires to free slaves on Tatooine, it’s a familiar image to him so he sees visions of it, but really this is about a Mawan. Visions are often symbolic. They are right, I think, but they are also wrong. The vision was clearly about them going to Mawan, and what would happen there. However, a deliberate parallel is drawn in that vision between what is happening on Mawan, and what could happen on Tatooine. Both are planets taken over by Hutts, both have no way of enforcing justice, but only one is getting Senate help. What was done on Mawan, could, and should have been done on Tatooine. Nevertheless, and unsurprisingly, no one bothers to suggest that the vision could have been talking about that as well. It would take too much effort. The cost-benefit analysis doesn’t add up. No one cares about people on a planet that cannot provide much obvious economic support, (outside of that  _dratted_ slave-trade), and which doesn’t catch the public eye, or stir controversial opinion. It’s just so much easier to ignore it. Why rock the boat?


End file.
